Commentary

Toasting the Belmont Stakes

Updated: May 24, 2010, 5:10 PM ET
By Jay Cronley | Special to ESPN.com

It's not like the Belmont Stakes is completely without the possibility of Triple Crown-related glitter.

The late-running Ice Box could capture the mythical Another Time, Another Place trophy by closing 20-lengths to run second in New York, much as he did Louisville.

Some are concerned that the Belmont Stakes is just another race. So what's wrong with just another race?

If you're easily distracted, here are some ways to make the third leg of the Triple Crown series more interesting:

  • Put together an office pool or some one-on-one propositions.

    Draw names, and pay the contestant with the lead horse a little something on three calls around the track, three quarters of the pool goes to the winner.

    At the Super Bowl, you can get odds on almost everything from the coin flip to who pulls a groin first.

    Horse racing should have proposition bets as well, 8-1 to pick who finishes fifth.

    I've already taken my choice of four horses over the wildly popular likely favorite Ice Box, whose closing Derby rush set so many hearts aflutter -- winner gets a bacon, lettuce, tomato and grilled salmon sandwich, the Monday after.

  • Use the occasion to study the history and anatomy of the horse.

    The earliest known horses evolved 55 million years ago.

    Learn the forelock from the fetlock. Etc.

  • Turn the sound off and announce the race to some friends over the phone.

    I was the guest announcer at a local track one evening and did two races. One was where I made the almost accurate, and nearly famous, quarter horse call, "They're off, here they come, you lose."

    On the thoroughbred race, the key point of the call was, "Here comes number three on the outside."

    Oddly enough, some fans of the race found the number three call to be clear, concise, and on the money.

  • To get a perspective of the task ahead of the horses, try jogging the distance of the Belmont Stakes, a mile and a half.

    I hope to improve on my personal best time, set about a week before last year's Belmont, of 25 minutes and change.

    Seeing a mile and a half stretching out in front of you, and imagining something on legs covering it in a few minutes, takes some getting used to: Secretariat won the 1973 Belmont Stakes in 2:24.

    Few races of such great distances are run anymore without hedges or puddles to jump.

  • Enjoy the race from a café in Bruges, Belgium, with a bottle of the great beer, Leffe.

  • Send some of what you usually bet on a Triple Crown race to the deserving children.

  • Watch the race with a good dog.

    Write to Jay at jaycronley@yahoo.com.

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